Actors Ed Asner, Clancy Brown, Dennis Hayden, and George Coe are among the 15 plaintiffs who filed suit today in federal court against SAG-AFTRA for not properly disbursing $110 million in foreign residuals they say have not been paid out.
Asner is the former SAG president (1981-1985) who very publicly opposed the SAG-AFTRA merger along with other ex-union board members. The 52-page filing also claims that the merged union has deliberately withheld information and kept the money in trust and spent portions on first class travel and lavish parties and big salaries for current union officials. ...
Funny thing. TAG was involved in a similar lawsuit against the WGAw thirty-six months ago. Individual writers were suing over money held in trust, and we joined in. Soon after, there was a settlement:
A state court judge has finalized the settlement in the tangled 5-year-old WGA West foreign levies case -- including a promise that he'll closely monitor how those funds are distributed.
... The WGA has agreed to use its "best efforts" to pay all foreign funds within three years.
... The WGA will have to allow the foreign money to "escheat" to the state for works not covered under WGA contracts if it can't locate the writers or their heirs after three years.
... The WGA West will hire consultants for a one-time review to make recommendations on how to improve the processing and distribution of the funds.
... The final settlement, which followed extensive objections to last fall's preliminary settlement, is much narrower than the WGA had sought.
The settlement brought about changes to the way the Writers Guild disspersed the money. (I started getting more foreign levy checks.) But many plaintiffs continued to be dissatisfied with the payouts.
Sounds like Ed and associates share the same gripes many writers do.
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